Thursday, May 17, 2012

Colleen Atwood: Snow White and the Huntsman


A few weeks ago, FIDM and Universal Pictures invited me to meet three-time Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood. I was beyond excited when I first received the invite. The event was an exhibition of her original designs for Snow White and the Huntsman. It was such an amazing experience. She explained her design process on all of her costumes seen here. I was blown away with how detailed she was, but not surprised. 
I am obsessed with all of these costumes, but this wedding dress just takes my breath away. Ravenna (Charlize Theron) wears this costume when she marries Snow White's father. I love how this dress looks and feels so innocent, but the caged sleeves give it a wicked quality.
Sometimes the smallest details don't get appreciated. The gold findings were purchased on one of her trips to Turkey. So beautiful. It's amazing how such a small detail like this can really change the whole costume. The leather trimming and embroidery was also lovely. 
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The beetle dress. A masterpiece.
There is a lot of emphasis on the sleeves as you can tell. The sleeves on this costume resemble bug wings. I also love all the distressing. My favorite detail on this dress is the beetle wings. Yes, these are actual beetle wings.
The Armor dress. Ravenna fights her last battle in this dress, seems appropriate.
This handmade chainmail armor helps give Ravenna a reptile quality to her character. The piece in the middle are hand twisted leather scraps. 
Colleen Atwood is one of the reason why I pursued a career in costume design. I first fell in love with her work on the film Edward Scissorhands, but who didn't right? Bondage suit, buckles, pointy boots, pale face and Robert Smith hair, who can forget this amazing costume. I have been following her work ever since and will continue to do so. I am positive that Snow White and the Huntsman is going to be epic. I can't wait to see all of these couture like costumes on the big screen.

2 comments:

  1. 'The event was an exhibition of her original designs for Snow White and the Huntsman.' -- Hello. You've seen the costumes.
    Have you seen the red coronation dress from the film? It's beautiful.
    I haven't been able to find more photos so far. Photos of the evil queens dresses, some huntman's costumes, Snow white's main dress, and that's nearly all.

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  2. omg! you got to meet colleen atwood? that's amazing! i absolutely loved her designs for this film. they kind of stole the whole show. would you mind me taking this photos and posting them on my blog? i'm also a costume designer living in LA and I run a fashion/film/costume design blog. let me know. thanks!

    www.clothestomidnight.blogspot.com

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